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22 mins: Carroll falls very easily over Terry's arm, and the Chelsea captain is booked. "What's not to get?" asks David McKenna of the Torres booing. "The man published an autobiography adorned in red and Liverbirds, publicly stated how much he loved LFC and that he would never go to another English team, went on and on about how he wanted his children to speak with a Scouse accent etc etc etc... For years he gushed about his Liverpool love affair and then out of the blue he engineered a deadline day move to one of Liverpool's biggest rivals." Well I suppose if you put it like that.
GOAL! Liverpool 1 Chelsea 0 (Essien own goal, 19 mins) A brilliant run from Suárez, who picks up the ball tight to the right touchline, nutmegs Terry again, runs into the penalty area, runs a bit more, runs for an extra little bit, and then cuts the ball back to Essien who touches home at the near post. He didn't know a lot about it, to be fair.
18 mins: That Ivanovic miss was preceded by some brilliant comedy defending which saw three defenders all run to the near post before falling over each other, and all three were on the ground when the Chelsea player won his header.
17 mins: Chelsea hit the post! From the corner, Ivanovic gets a clean header six yards out and bang in the middle of goal, but sends the ball thudding against the bar.
17 mins: At the other end, Sturridge's shot deflects narrowly wide with the goalkeeper wrong-footed.
16 mins: A long punt forward from Reina, a ludicrous flying backheel-volley lay-off from Suárez, and Carroll shoots not too far over the bar from 20-odd yards.
15 mins: Ferreira continues the old-fashioned fouling theme by tripping Suárez with particular cynicism, and is booked for it.
13 mins: Ryan Bertrand executes a very nice shoulder-barge to make sure that Henderson doesn't get the ball. Proper old-fashioned, that was.
11 mins: Liverpool have started very brightly, keeping the ball well and hustling Chelsea off the ball even better.
9 mins: Liverpool are wearing shirts emblazoned with an unfamiliar "Seeing is Believing" logo tonight. It's not a new sponsor, it's old sponsor Standard Chartered's global charity initiative. The shirts will be signed and auctioned after the match.
7 mins: CHANCE! Suárez nutmegs Terry very nicely indeed to play himself through on goal, but he shoots early and wide.
6 mins: Play is stopped while Chelsea's medics treat Malouda, who has been down for a couple of minutes, holding the back of his head, since Shelvey kick him in the back of it.
5 mins: Torres is getting very noisily booed every time he touches the ball. I just don't get it.
3 mins: A much better opening than on Saturday. Liverpool have even but a decent move together, which they didn't do for the entire opening half at Wembley, but Suárez shoved Ferreira as the cross came in and a free kick is given.
1 min: Peeeeeeeeeep! They're off! Chelsea get the game under way, heading from left to right as the cameras look at it.
The teams are out! Kick off is but moments away, people.
In the time it took me to write that 350 more people voted. And Grant Holt is still winning.
100 votes in already! And Grant Holt is winning. I might agree, partly because he's clearly a capable player, if not necessarily a brilliant one, and partly because I'm an old romantic.
Yet more questions: Here is a poll. Feel free to vote.
Yet another question: "Can you (everyone!) please stop saying Andy Carroll played very well on saturday?" asks Roger Frost. No, but go on. "Every time he got the ball he laid it off 20-30 metres, and then turned and ran into the box waiting for a cross. As normal he was often beaten to the ball by defenders smaller than him, and as always he furiously and incorrectly claimed a corner when he did manage to make contact and head it over the bar. Just because he looked up for it and scored a goal does not mean he played extraordinarily well or is a good player. Please stop before someone thinks it would be a good idea to take him to Euro 2012!" I thought he really was extraordinary on Saturday, but my worry was this: if the only difference between useless Carroll and amazing Carroll is a serious amount of motivation, and if he isn't able to motivate himself to that level regularly, or even occasionally, then that don't impress me much.
Another question: "If Chelsea win 1-0 this evening, and then beat Blackburn by a single goal whilst Tottenham draw scoring the same number of goals as Chelsea on Sunday ... which of the two teams finishes highest in the table?" asks Philip Hayes. Thanks for asking, Philip. My understanding is this: if the teams finish level on points, on goal difference and on goals scored – which is certainly possible – and if European qualification is at stake, they will have to play off. I would love this to happen.
The teams are in! And Chelsea have rendered my previous question irrelevant by making eight changes to the side that started at Wembley, including sticking Fernando Torres in their starting line-up. Liverpool have made four changes of their own, giving Steven Gerrard the night off, because of a minor back injury. So what happened at Wembley and what happens tonight are totally unrelated.
Liverpool: Reina, Johnson, Carragher, Skrtel, Agger, Downing, Henderson, Shelvey, Maxi, Suarez, Carroll. Subs: Doni, Coates, Kuyt, Spearing, Sterling, Kelly, Bellamy.
Chelsea: Turnbull, Ferreira, Ivanovic, Terry, Bertrand, Essien, Romeu, Ramires, Sturridge, Malouda, Torres. Subs: Hilario, Cole, Lampard, Mata, Lukaku, Kalou, Hutchinson.
Referee: Kevin Friend.
So, a question: These teams played in the FA Cup final on Saturday, where Liverpool didn't turn up for the first hour and then were excellent in the final half-hour, with Andy Carroll playing extraordinarily well. Let's say they start with Carroll tonight, they pick up where they left off and Chelsea are blown away – wouldn't that make Liverpool feel worse about their Cup final defeat, and life in general, than if Chelsea better them again tonight? Might they not just want to play poorly, lose at Anfield once again, continue the narrative of the last several months without potentially confusing last-ditch upturns, and get on with the summer rebuild?
Just imagine this worst-case scenario: Stewart Downing has a blinder today, scores a couple, grabs a few assists. It would be a nightmare, a disaster. Nobody would know what to think. No, at this stage of the season it's good to know where you stand, to have a little certainty. Don't you think?
Early arrivals were treated to this piece on Fernando Torres's return to Anfield. You can still read it, if you like:
Roberto Di Matteo is expected to hand Fernando Torres a place in the Chelsea starting lineup against Liverpool on Tuesday night, giving the striker his first action at Anfield since his British record £50m move to London 15 months ago, as his side attempt to maintain their faint hopes of a top‑four finish.
The FA Cup winners will travel to Merseyside for a swift rematch against the team they defeated at Wembley needing to win to stand any chance of being in contention for a top‑four spot when they host Blackburn Rovers in their final game on Sunday. Had Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United won on Sunday then Chelsea would already be contemplating a sixth-place finish, their lowest in a decade. Yet the failure of the three sides immediately above them in the table to emerge victorious from the penultimate round of matches means Di Matteo's team can still strictly finish as high as third, above Arsenal.
That scenario remains unlikely but the team selection at Anfield will reflect such a possibility even with the Champions League final against Bayern Munich to come this month. The interim first-team coach indicated at the weekend that his selection would "depend on Sunday's results" and, while the likes of Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole and Juan Mata are all likely to sit out the match, the coach will still pick a strong side that includes experience.
انسخ الكود التالى و ضعه فى موقعك او مدونتك.
